Les Baux-de-Provence

The village seen from the castle ruins

Last week we took a short drive to Les Baux, the site of a now-ruined castle perched on top of the rocky Alpilles mountains. The area was inhabited by the Celts around the 2nd century BC and was the seat of a feudal lordship in the Middle Ages. The castle has a really rich, varied history, ending with it's destruction ordered by Cardinal Richelieu in 1632 (all this from the wikipedia site, if you are dying to know more).

We were with our friends from Portland, and the girls were real troopers. It is a huge site, and it was a bloody hot day, so we even though we were there for hours, we only saw a fraction of the ruins.
















The highlight of the day, at least for me, was a trip down the hill from the castle to Les Carrières de Lumières, the site of a former rock quarry that has been turned into an amazing sound and light show. Apparently the show changes annually — we were lucky enough to catch one featuring Monet, Renior and Chagall, although many other artists were represented. Imagine walking into a massive rocky quarry, with walls 40-feet high, and rooms hundreds of feet long. You're in total darkness for a moment. Then, one by one, the walls around you are covered with art. The art is constantly changing though, in time with the music that's also filling the space. You are free to roam around the space, every moment a new discovery. We stayed for at least an hour, and had the pleasure of discovering a 2-minute-long bonus show with images from nature starting with a storm in the quarry and ending with a trip through space. The whole thing was fabulous.





Can you see Anna spinning Mattea around in the foreground? The girls began dancing to the classical music the minute we entered the quarry.






Anna and David become part of the art.


In some cases the projections went along the floor as well.




The walls “filled up” with water starting at the bottom. Here we are surrounded by floating jellies.

Best. thing. ever.

My amazing fashionista friend, Ami (mentioned here, here, and here), gave Anna this book as a going away gift (Ami was going away, not Anna) a few weeks ago. Anna immediately proclaimed her love for the book, and later for Ami.

Rosie Flo's Coloring Book is full of images of fabulous outfits: you add the head, hands, and feet. This little book kept Anna busy for about 4 days straight, and she keeps coming back to it. Paired with my Berol Prismacolors, left over from my art school days, it's a match made in heaven.









I love little things that give kids a jumping off point for their own creativity. Thanks, Ami, and bon voyage.

One an unrelated note, we're off to Florida (again) for a visit with the family (yet another excuse to delve deep into the genealogy stuff). Next post will likely be from more tropical climes.

Still lives

A couple weeks ago, two little girls came asking for an art project. Really? Does it get any better than that?

Neither of them had ever done a still life before, so I began by finding a few different examples online. I really wanted them to see that they didn't have to be representational. I think it's so important that kids understand there is no doing it "wrong" with art.

A simple set-up and some oil pastels were all that was needed. Their work, of course, was amazing! And I love that they both added in apples even though there wasn't one in the still life. Creative license at work!








You'll notice Anna went back to her stage name, Lavender, to sign her work!

Art kid

A girl and her horse, paper dolls.

I think I've mentioned before that I was an art kid from a young age, and that I'd accepted the fact that Anna wasn't. Despite the cartons full of art supplies that I've hauled out at various times, she was always more interested in building, or climbing, or pretend play.

All that has changed overnight. My house is awash in drawings and “paper dolls”. My former eating machine of a child will sit at the table, her food pushed to the side, while she focuses intently on the details of each dress, each smile, each letter.

Needless to say, I'm smitten.

A fairy.

Dorothy, paper doll.

A portrait of Mama, paper doll.

Art

Amanda over at SouleMama posted a link to this earlier today, and it's easy to see why. Go for the art, stay for the music.

This is one of those times when I can either feel like a total zero in comparison to the talent of others, or I can revel in my role as supporter of someone else's art. And if by reading my blog you get closer to your inspiration because I led you to this video, then I am happy.

Please, watch the video. It's amazing!
Note: If you follow the link then you can see it on YouTube and leave comments for the artist.

And, by the way, if you don't know SouleMama, she's pretty inspiring too!

Creativity

I was a creative kid. Very creative. Always working on this or that art project. Then I went to art school and subsequently became a graphic designer. And for some reason, the creativity changed. I don't know if it was age or the fact that I was now being paid to be "creative" on someone else's terms, but I stopped doing art around that time.

Years passed and I dabbled in this and that, but the passion for it was never the same. And then I had a child. I was so excited for her to begin "doing art". She, however, had different ideas. Of course, knowing nothing about children I was off by a couple years in terms of ability (she didn't yet know not to eat the crayons, for example).

Now that she's 3-and-a-half, I am floored by the way creativity is ever-present. It doesn't have to be about art — in fact it usually isn't. The other day we were playing "school" and it was lunchtime. Instead of going into the kitchen and collecting things one could actually eat, Anna came up with the most beautiful, interesting collections of objects for our "lunch".

She and her friends play this way all the time, making something where there's nothing — creating languages and universes where none exist. There is so much creativity and beauty, and not a small amount of hilarity in their efforts.

She is my role model. The goal is to unlearn, to see a world of opportunity in the nothingness, to play again.